Dark

The biggest philosophical influence. Themes include:

• Eternal recurrence ("everything repeats.")
• Fate versus free will.
• The possibility of escaping cyclical existence.

The series repeatedly quotes Nietzsche and builds much of its structure around these ideas.

Michael Ende's work explores:

• cycles,
• identity,
• destiny,
• stories within stories.

The creators have mentioned Ende as an important German literary influence.

Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese have talked about Lost as the show that made this kind of series possible, and Dark is built out of its machinery: an ensemble whose secrets are revealed by shuffling time, an episode that belongs to one character's backstory, a hatch in the ground, and a mythology released in pieces. The difference is the one they have emphasised, that they wrote the ending first, which is the criticism Lost attracted answered in advance.

Recurring motifs include:

• Adam and Eve.
• Paradise.
• Original sin.
• Revelation.
• Apocalypse.

Even character names like Adam and Noah are deliberate.